[CBFF] CT - Former Bears coach obtained human growth hormone

[Jerry Madsen]

Former Bears coach obtained human growth hormone
By Gary Myers and T.J. Quinn
New York Daily News

September 1, 2007, 12:28 AM CDT

NEW YORK -- Former Bears assistant coach Wade Wilson and New England
safety Rodney Harrison have admitted to league officials to receiving
illegal performance-enhancing drugs as part of an Internet drug scam,
the New York Daily News has learned.

Wilson, whose career as a quarterback ended in 1998, faces a
yet-to-be-announced punishment. He admitted receiving human growth
hormone and anabolic steroids while a coach with the Bears, where he
worked from 2004-2006. League officials were interested to know
whether he used the drugs himself or whether he supplied them to
players. Harrison admitted to receiving human growth hormone.

Although the league does not test for HGH, a player can be suspended
under the NFL doping policy if he admits or it can be proven that he
took or possessed anything on the banned substances list. He is now an
assistant with Dallas.

Harrison will be suspended for four games, sources said.

The two are the first of what is expected to be many connected to the
NFL to arise in the investigation. Sources said officials from the
Albany, N.Y., Co. District Attorney's office approached NFL officials
about Harrison and Wilson, saying that both had received drugs from
Signature Pharmacy in Orlando. Under the scam, in which nine have
pleaded guilty, doctors, hired by "anti-aging" clinics, signed
prescriptions for patients they never saw, and those prescriptions
were filled at Signature and other pharmacies.

Albany and Florida law enforcement agents raided the pharmacy and
several clinics in February.

Harrison, speaking on a conference call Friday night after his
suspension was reported by ESPN, apologized to fans, especially those
in "high school and college."

"I want to make it clear that not once did I ever use steroids,"
Harrison said. "I did admit to the commissioner that I did use a
banned substance. My purpose was never to gain a competitive edge.
Rather, my use was solely for the purpose of accelerating the healing
process from injuries I sustained."

Copyright (c) 2007, The Chicago Tribune